Low profile tethering device for securing a boat

ABSTRACT

A tethering device for a boat may be mounted to a dock so that the top surface of the tethering device is flush with the top of the dock. Inside the housing is a retraction reel storing a sufficient length of line to provide tethering of the boat to the dock while retracting excess line back for out-of-sight storage but leaving the pre-selected length of line extending from the tethering device. The housing also has a line locking mechanism to hold the line at the pre-selected length so as to prevent the boat from drifting away taking line with it.

PRIORITY CLAIM

Priority to U.S. provisional patent application 61/055,294 filed May 22,2008, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, isclaimed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to devices for tethering watercraft, boatsin particular, to docks. Currently, the most common way for a boat to besecured to a dock is to wrap a rope from a boat around a cleat fastenedto the dock surface. A cleat is a device bolted to the surface of thedock and has two prongs extending laterally from opposing sides of thebase. A rope may be looped in a figure eight pattern or lashed in someother manner around the two opposing prongs.

There are several shortcomings in the use of cleats. Primarily thecleats together with a mass of rope used to tether the boat are atripping hazard to those walking on the dock. This is ironic in view ofthe care generally taken on boats to eliminate tripping hazards. Also,the boat is only as secure as the extent to which the cleat is bolted tothe dock. As docks weather, the security of the cleat's moorings becomesan insidious issue because the cleat looks secure but the wood holdingit may have rotted. Finally, there is typically excess rope that isoften casually coiled around the cleat. Thus there remains a need for abetter way to tether a boat to a dock.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a tethering device for a boat. The top surfaceof the tethering device is flush with the top of the dock and it issecured to the underside of the decking so that someone can walk on topof the decking without tripping. Inside the housing of the device is aretraction reel storing a sufficient length of line to provide tetheringof the boat to the dock while retracting excess line for out-of-sightstorage while leaving the pre-selected length of line extending from thetethering device. The housing also has a line locking mechanism to holdthe pre-selected length of line and prevent the boat from drifting awaytaking the line with it.

The present tethering device is made to be fastened to the underside ofthe decking of the dock rather than to the top side of the decking sothe part of the decking that holds it is not the sun and rain exposedsurface. Also, securement of the tethering device is spread over severaldecking boards to better distribute the load.

The low-profile, flush upper surface of the device eliminates thetripping hazard of cleats, and the retraction reel eliminates the massof excess line. The result is a neater appearance and certainly saferthan the use of prior art cleats.

The internal line locking mechanism helps to assure that the line issecurely fastened and remains securely fastened to the device at thelength predetermined by the user.

These and other features and their advantages will be readily apparentto those skilled in the art in tethering small craft to docks andmarinas from a careful reading of the Detailed Description of PreferredEmbodiments, accompanied by the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the figures,

FIG. 1 is a left side perspective view of a dock with a boat tethered toa tethering device, according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a detail of the view of FIG. 1 with the dock board of thetethering device shown lifted to reveal the mounting plate and housing,according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a left side perspective, exploded view of the presenttethering device according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a left side, cross sectional view of the tethering device withlatch arm lifted, according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are left side, cross sectional views of a portion of thepresent tethering device with latch arm in the unlatched (raised)position and in the latched (lowered) position so that the impact of thelatch on the cam's ability to grip the line to the boat is apparent,according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 6A and 6B are right side, cross sectional views of a portion ofthe present tethering device with latch arm in the unlatched (raised)position and in the latched (lowered) position, according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention is a device 10for tethering a boat 12 or other water craft to a dock 14. A dock is aframework 16 covered with decking 18 and that extends from a shorelineout over the water where it may be supported by pilings 20, as shown, ormay be a floating dock, to allow those with boats floating on the waterto walk between shore and boat 12 easily. Boat 12 is tethered to dock 14so that it is kept proximate to dock 14 and does not float away.

Decking 18 may be made of lumber such as 2×6 pine boards laid inparallel across framework 16 and fastened with nails or screws, or madeof plastic, composite, metal, concrete or a combination of materials.The present device 10 may be incorporated into the surface of the dockor, as shown, made to replace a short section of the end of one deckingboard 22 and may be flush with the top of decking 18 so that it does notpresent a tripping hazard. Dock 14 may have several of the presentdevices installed along its edge 24 at intervals depending on how longdock 16 is and how many boats 12 may be tied up to dock 16. A marinadock may have a device 10 every 20 feet for example. Each device 10 hasa line 26 that may have a loop 28 formed in the running end 30 thereof,preferably a spliced line loop for use in hitching line 26 to a cleat 32on boat 12 using, for example, a lark's head hitch as illustrated inFIG. 1.

Device 10 is intended to provide a length of line 26 for use intethering boat 12 to dock 14. Device 10 may be installed into dock 14 sothat it holds running end 30 of line 26 at the dock's edge 24. The usersimply unlatches a latch arm 40 on device 10 by raising it in order torelease line 26, meaning, to cause device 10 to release its hold on line26 so that running end 30 can be pulled away from device 10. The usermay then pull a pre-selected amount of line 26 sufficient to reach boat12 where loop 28 of the running end 30 may be attached to a cleat 32 orto another part of the boat 12. As will be explained herein, device 10retracts the slack in line 26. When latch arm 40 is lowered to thelatched position, device 10 grips line 26 so boat 12 cannot drift awayfrom dock 16 beyond the pre-selected length of line 26 extending fromdevice 10 when latch arm 40 was placed in the latched position. Latcharm 40 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the latched position, which is flushwith the top of device 10 and decking 18. No part of device 10 extendssignificantly above decking 18 so as to present a tripping hazard andthere is no pile of rope to clutter dock 14.

Device 10 includes a housing 42 that may have six sides defining arectangular parallelepiped as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Housing 42 has ahole 44 formed in one side which side is designated herein forconvenience as top side 46 when device 10 is oriented as shown inFIG. 1. Top side 46 of housing 42 opposes a bottom side 48 of housing42. Hole 44 will be located in top side 46 near a proximal side 50 asopposed to near a distal side 52. Proximal side 50 is intended to beparallel to and close to edge 24 of dock 16, when device 10 is installedin a preferred location of dock 16, so that line 26 issues from hole 44at a point closest to edge 24 and boat 12 to limit the amount of line 26on decking 18. Housing 42 has a first or left side 54 as seen in FIGS.1-4, and an opposing second or right side 56. Top side 46 has twoadditional holes formed therein, a first proximal hole 58 and a seconddistal hole 60, the purposes of which will be explained presently.

Housing 42 is supported from above by a U-shaped adaptor plate 70 thatis fastened to the underside of decking 18 so that housing 42 is abovethe water line in order to avoid the impact of water on housing 42 andits internal structures. Top side 46 of housing 42 is formed with aflange 72 that rests on adaptor plate 70. When housing 42 is in positionon adaptor plate 70, top side 46 is below the top surface of decking 18.A dock board 74 is then attached to adaptor plate 70 over flange 72using bolts. Preferably, adaptor plate 70 includes pre-attached floatingnut plates 80 so that the user merely needs to drill holes throughdecking 18 and decking board 22 from the surface of decking 18 anddecking board 22 and then install bolts through the pre-drilled holes.Holes are formed in dock board 74 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and adaptor plate 70to allow adaptor plate 70 to be secured to dock board 74 and adaptorplate 70 to decking 18, using bolts 82 and 84, respectively (FIG. 4).Dock board 74 has a thickness and a width that matches the thickness andwidth of the boards that comprise decking 18 so that device 10 can beinstalled merely by removing a portion of one decking board 22 near edge24, installing adaptor plate 70 to the underside of surrounding,remaining decking 18, positioning flange 72 of housing 42 on adaptorplate 70, positioning dock board 74 over housing 42 and then securingdock board 74 to adaptor plate 70 with flange 72 sandwiched therebetweenwith bolts 82, and decking 18 to adaptor plate 70 with bolts 84, and thetop surface of dock board 74 will be flush with the surrounding decking18. Preferably the fastening bolts 82, 84 are counter-sunk so that nopart of device 10 extends above decking 18 but rather is all essentiallyflush with decking 18.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 6A and 6B are cross sectional views of device 10.Reference numbers used in FIGS. 1 and 2 are used in FIGS. 3-6 for thesame components for convenience. Also, for convenience, the views inFIGS. 3, 4, 5A and 5B are deemed left side views of device 10, from theperspective of someone standing on boat 12 and looking at device 10 ondock 14, as is the case in FIG. 1. FIGS. 6A and 6B show right side crosssectional views of device 10 from the same perspective.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, an exploded view of device 10, andFIG. 4, a cross sectional view from the left side of device 10, housing42 of device 10 includes removable left side 54 for providing access tothe interior of housing 42 and held in place with screws 118. To theleft of housing 42 is adaptor plate 70 that fits just under flanges 72of housing 42. Flanges 72 may be approximately ¼ inch wide or a littlewider. Dock board 74 is attached to adaptor plate 70 from below usingbolts. Inside a recess 86 formed in dock board 74 is latch arm 40 with alatch 88. A hole 90 is formed in dock board for running end 30 of line26 to exit device 10 and which hole 90 is in registration with hole 44in housing 42. Hole 90 may be beveled to reduce wear on line 26 as line26 is pulled from and retracts back into device 10.

Two other holes are formed in dock board 74, namely, a first hole 98 inthe proximal end of recess 86 of dock board 74 that allows latch 88 onthe end of latch arm 40 to communicate with the housing 42, and a secondhole 102 on the distal end of recess 86 of dock board 74 that allowslatch arm 40 to communicate with the interior of housing 42. Distal endof latch arm 40 is pivotally attached to the distal end of recess 86 ofdock board 74 with a pivot pin 104. A small strike plate 106 is attachedto the proximal end of recess 86 in dock board 74 with screws 64. Asliding catch 108 moves rearward and clear of strike plate 106 withlatch 88 when latch 88 is pivoted, thereby unfastening latch 88 andlatch arm 40, allowing it to be raised by pivoting it about pivot pin104 to the unlatched, raised position. Similarly, latching arm 40 can bepivoted down until sliding catch 108 passes strike plate 106 and latch88 can be pivoted closed, at which point, sliding catch 108 is slidforward to catch strike plate 106 and hold latch arm 40 secure to dockboard 74. The structure and operation of latch arm 40 will be describedin more detail below.

Inside housing 42 is a retraction reel 120 that retracts slack in line26. Reel 120 has a circular cover plate 122 over a spool 124 rotatablymounted to an axle 126. An end of line 26 is secured to spool 124 andwound therearound. Running end 30 of line 26 passes around a post 128close to the inside surface of proximal side 50 and below hole 44.Running end 30 extends through hole 44 and hole 90 in dock board 74.Loop 28 in running end 30 serves to prevent line 26 from being retractedby retraction reel 120 back into housing 42. Alternatively, a knot inrunning end 30 or an object to which running end 30 of line 26 is tiedcan serve the same purpose as long as the width of the knot or object isgreater than the diameter of hole 90 so that running end 30 cannot beretracted back into device 10. Retraction is accomplished using a powercoil spring 130 inside spool 124 that is loaded by the withdrawal of alength of line 26 and relieved when allowed to retract spring back ontospool 124.

Within housing 42 is a line locking system shown in FIG. 3 at the bottomright to allow the user to hold line 26 so that it does not retractrunning end 30 all the way back to dock board 74 but allows a user topre-selected a length of line 26 to remain drawn from device 10. Theline locking system includes principally a locking arm 140 pivotallycarrying a toothed cam 142 on the end thereof, as best seen in FIGS. 3and 4. Cam 142 has a surface treatment to increase friction between line26 and cam 142 such as teeth as shown or knurling. FIGS. 5A and 5B showleft side views with latch arm in the unlatched and latched positions,respectively; FIGS. 6A and 6B show right side views of latch arm in theunlatched and latched positions respectively. The operation of the linelocking system components except for biasing springs are best seen inFIGS. 5A and 5B; the biasing springs are best seen in FIGS. 6A and 6B.

Referring now to FIGS. 5A, and 5B, locking arm 140 is pivotally mountedto housing 42 so that its proximal end carries toothed cam 142 and itsdistal end is positioned just below second holes 60 and 102 in housing42 and in recess 86 of dock board 74, respectively. An activation rod144 is carried by distal end of locking arm 140 so that it extendsthrough holes 60 and 102 where latching arm 40 can engage it and, aslatching arm 40 is moved from the unlatched (raised) position to thelatched (lowered) position, latching arm 40 presses activation rod 144down into housing 42 whereby it in turn pivots distal end of locking arm140 counter-clockwise about a pivot pin 138 when viewed from the leftside of device 10. The counter-clockwise pivoting of locking arm 140pushes toothed cam 142 against line 26 to prevent further movement ofline 26 as long as latch arm 40 is latched and activation rod 144 ispressed down. A stopper 150 carried by locking arm 140 limits theability of toothed cam 142 to back away from line 26 even when latch arm40 is in the unlatched position and line 26 is free to retract.

To assure that line 26 is always positioned so that it can be held bytoothed cam 142, an arm mount 146 is affixed to the inside surface ofproximal side 50. Arm mount 146 has two opposing flanges 148 that definea channel therebetween which channel is positioned so that line 26 runsdirectly through it, between opposing flanges 148, as line 26 passesaround post 128 on its way to hole 44 in housing 42. Toothed cam 142,when moved by the pivoting of locking arm 140 to the latched (closes)position, rotates into the channel defined by arm mount 146 and againstline 26.

Referring now to FIGS. 6A and 6B, the effect of certain biasing springswill now be described. There are two biasing springs, a return biasingspring 160 and a cam spring 162. Return biasing spring 160 urges lockingarm 140 to rotate counter-clockwise when viewed from the right side ofdevice 10 (clockwise when viewed from the left side) so that activationrod 144 is pushed up upon movement of latch arm 40 to the unlatchedposition. Conversely, closing latch arm 40 loads return biasing spring.Locking arm 140, aided by stopper 150, causes toothed cam 142 to pivotinto the channel between opposing flanges 148 and against line 26 whenlatch arm 140 is closed while return biasing spring 160 pivots toothedcam 142 away from line 26 when latching arm 40 is moved to the unlatchedposition.

Return biasing spring 160 is a coiled spring with a first end 166 and anopposing second end 168 with coil 170 fixed into position by post 172and a clevis pin 174 to hold it onto post 172. First end 166 engages acatch 176 carried on locking arm 140 and movable therewith, so thatfirst end 166 moves with the movement of locking arm 140. As locking arm140 is rotated clockwise (right view) about a pivot pin 138 by thedownward movement of activation rod 144, return bias spring 160 isloaded against catch 178 on arm mount 146. Counter-clockwise rotation oflocking arm 140 relieves return bias spring 160.

Cam spring 162 has a first end 184 and an opposing second end 186 with acoil 188 there between mounted on a post 190 and held to post 190 by aclevis pin 192. First end 184 of cam spring 162 is also operated againstcatch 176 and second end 186 is applied against post 194 so that camspring is always urging toothed cam 142 out of the arm mount channel andaway from line 26. Locking arm 140 and return biasing spring 160ultimately control when toothed cam 142 is in channel. Also, when latcharm 40 is in the latched position, tension on line 26 will act ontoothed cam 142 to further engage cam 142 against line 26, but whenlatch 40 is moved to the unlatched position, and locking arm 140 ismoved away from line 26, cam spring 162 pulls toothed cam 142 from line26.

Those familiar with docks and boating will appreciate that manymodifications and substitutions can be made to the foregoing preferredembodiments of the present invention without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention, defined by the appended claims.

1. A device for use with a dock having a frame with decking on saidframe, said device comprising: (a) a housing having a hole formedtherein; (b) a retraction reel rotatably mounted within said housing;(c) a line having a running end and a fixed end, said fixed end attachedto and wound onto said retraction reel, said running end of said linepassing through said hole in said housing to the exterior of saidhousing; (d) a latch arm carried by said housing, said latch arm havinga latched position and an unlatched position; (e) a locking armpivotally mounted within said housing; and (f) a cam pivotally carriedby said locking arm and proximate to said housing, wherein, when saidlatch arm is moved to said latched position, said latch arm pivots saidlocking arm to drive said cam against said line to hold said lineagainst said housing so that, when said device is attached to a frame ofa dock and a boat is attached to said running end of said line, saidboat cannot drift away from said dock.
 2. The device as recited in claim1, further comprising a spring that biases said locking arm to pull saidcam away from said line when said latch arm is moved to said unlatchedposition.
 3. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein said cam isformed to have teeth to grip said line.
 4. The device as recited inclaim 1, wherein said latch arm includes an activation rod and saidlocking arm has a distal end and a proximal end, said cam being carriedby said proximal end, said activation rod engaging said distal end ofsaid locking arm and pivoting said locking arm with said cam intoengagement with said line when said latch arm is moved from saidunlatched position to said latched position.
 5. The device as recited inclaim 1, wherein said retraction reel includes a power spring biasingsaid retraction reel to take up slack in said line.
 6. The device asrecited in claim 1, further comprising a dock board carried by saidhousing, said dock board having a recess, said latch arm fitting withinsaid recess, said dock board having a hole formed therein and inregistration with said hole in said housing for said line to passtherethrough.
 7. The device as recited in claim 6, wherein said dockincludes decking fastened to a frame, said decking having a surface andsaid dock board having a surface, and wherein said dock board isdimensioned to be flush with said decking when said dock board isattached to said housing and said housing is attached to said dock. 8.The device as recited in claim 6, wherein said hole is in said proximalend of said dock board so that said line can be extended from saiddevice near the edge of said dock
 9. The device as recited in claim 1,wherein said locking arm further comprises an arm mount affixed to saidhousing, said arm mount pivotally holding said locking arm andchanneling said line proximate to said cam.
 10. The device as recited inclaim 1, wherein said locking arm carries a stopper to limit pivoting ofsaid cam.
 11. A device for use with a dock having a frame with deckingon said frame, said device comprising: (a) a housing having a holeformed therein; (b) a dock board carried by said housing and attachableto a dock, said dock board having a recess and a hole formed therein,said hole being in registration with said hole of said housing; (c) areel rotatably mounted within said housing; (d) a line having a runningend and a fixed end, said fixed end attached to and wound onto saidreel, said running end of said line passing through said hole in saidhousing and said hole in said dock board to the exterior of saidhousing; (e) a latch arm pivotally carried in said recess of said dockboard, said latch arm having a latched position and an unlatchedposition; (f) a locking arm pivotally mounted within said housing; (g)an activation rod in operative connection with said latch arm and saidlocking arm, said activation rod pressing on said distal end of saidlocking arm when said latch arm is in said latched position andreleasing said locking arm when said latch arm is in said unlatchedposition; (h) a cam pivotally carried by said locking arm and proximateto said housing; and (i) an arm mount attached to said housing andadapted to channel said line proximate to said cam so that, when saidlatch arm is moved to said latched position, said latch arm, operatingthrough said activation rod, pivots said locking arm to drive said camagainst said arm mount in order to hold said line so that said boatcannot drift away from said dock.
 12. The device as recited in claim 11,wherein said reel is a retraction reel to take up slack in said line.13. The device as recited in claim 11, further comprising a spring thatbiases said locking arm to pull said cam away from said line when saidlatch arm is moved to said unlatched position.
 14. The device as recitedin claim 11, wherein said dock includes decking fastened to a frame,said decking having a surface and said dock board having a top surface,and wherein said dock board is dimensioned to be flush with said deckingwhen said dock board is attached to said housing and said housing isattached to said dock.
 15. The device as recited in claim 11, whereinsaid cam is formed to have teeth to grip said line.
 16. The device asrecited in claim 11, wherein said locking arm carries a stop pin tolimit pivoting of said cam.